


Your Shadow Tells Me More

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Insensitive [2]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-07
Updated: 2011-04-07
Packaged: 2017-10-17 16:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/178997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a job goes wrong, Ariadne falls into limbo. The rest of the team tries to save her, but she's very good at not being found.</p><p>Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/165304">Insensitive</a> and incorporates <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/15916.html?thread=32991788#t32991788">two</a> <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/15916.html?thread=32492332#t32492332">prompts</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Shadow Tells Me More

Arthur wound up flying to Berlin about two weeks later than he had originally planned, after Eames was recuperating nicely. Conversations at the Paris warehouse weren't stilted, and he had been surprised by the team's efforts to help him stay comfortable, and how no one seemed to think his congenital analgesia was something to be exploited.

Ariadne's tight hugs made Eames laugh, though she was careful to avoid his left side, in case her hug damaged anything. He found it endearing, and hugged her back just as tightly. His breath caught at her fiercely emotional grin at him; he hadn't thought she would care as much as she obviously did. It was an odd and very pleasant sensation to be able to have this kind of trust and respect in a coworker.

Cobb had spent his time with his children and Miles in Paris, enjoying every moment of being a father to them again. He looked much less careworn and tense, which went a long way in easing Eames' opinion of the man a little. He still didn't trust Cobb to look after anyone's interests but his own, but he could respect that. Eames knew how that worked.

He spent most of his time with Ariadne and Yusuf now. Eames hadn't been very close to Yusuf in Mombasa, but they had always been cordial. Expats from England tended to be, and especially expats with similar illegal contacts. Yusuf had a wickedly sarcastic and underhanded sense of humor, which Eames appreciated, but he hadn't realized that Ariadne had a similar streak.

The three of them had clicked as friends during the Fischer job, but this now cemented that friendship. Ariadne still lived like a student in le Quartier Latin, and so they often spent time in the student dives and bars. Eames found it easy to fall into that routine, to take meals together and just walk around the city at a leisurely pace. There was nothing to do until Arthur came back from Berlin with the specifics of the job, and there was more than enough space for him to use part of the warehouse as living space. The warehouse was paid up through the rest of the year, and he rather liked the quiet in the area in the evenings.

Ariadne didn't always let him stay alone to wallow, however. Sometimes she brought over her laptop and some DVD's to keep him company. At other times, she invited him out with her friends. Sometimes Eames and Yusuf got drinks in the evening, and Yusuf remarked one night on how close Eames and Ariadne had become. "You spend quite a lot of time together. I wonder if it is simple friendship or not." He gave Eames an encouraging smile. "You can tell me if it's more."

"We're friends, plain and simple," Eames protested, shaking his head. "We've saved each others' lives recently, is all. I think she feels sorry for me that I'm stuck in the warehouse alone at night until the job begins."

Yusuf snorted. "That doesn't look like she's feeling sorry for you."

"We're _friends,_ Yusuf."

He smiled at Eames knowingly as he held up his hands. "Fine, then. Friends. Nothing more. Yet," he added under his breath. Eames ignored it and finished his pint. "I suppose this one is complicated, if Arthur is taking this long to get back to Paris."

"I could use the break. I don't mind it so much. It's rather nice to take the easy approach for a change."

"Sooner or later the money runs out, Eames. I'd rather be working."

"I would've thought you'd be flush with money after these past few jobs."

"It takes a lot to run the dream den," Yusuf replied with a shrug. "Bribes and chemicals aren't cheap, you know. I provide quality materials, quality dreams. I don't skimp on that."

"No, you wouldn't," Eames agreed. "It's why I suggested you for the jobs, you know. You're the best."

Yusuf grinned at Eames. "And I thank you for the referrals. I've been busy. Business is good."

Eames received a text and checked his phone. "Well, then," he said with a slow smile. "Business just got better. Arthur booked a return flight and should be able to meet us all tomorrow afternoon to go over what he picked up for us."

Yusuf's smile widened. "To being busy," he said, lifting his glass. Eames laughed and nodded along with him.

***

Their employer was the vice president for an international electronics development company based out of Berlin. Their primary competitor was based in Brussels, and it was well known that they were designing a new cell phone interface. It would be proprietary information and was expected to make them billions in the international market. Arthur was contacted to coordinate the extraction of the design by the competitor's lead software developer. Their employer would be able to design something similar enough to take a market share, but dissimilar enough not to get sued.

"Our subject is Christophe Laurin," Arthur explained, laying out the details of the job and the initial data he had gotten from their employer. "He's the lead software developer. Diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger's when he was a kid, still takes medication for his attention."

"Do you have the names and doses?" Yusuf piped up. He eagerly took the sheet of medication names and doses from Arthur and grinned. "Oh, this won't do too much to the mixture I have in mind, especially if we put him under toward the evening. The stimulant will be completely out of his system by then."

Arthur went through the rest of the background information that he had pulled on Laurin, the company and the security around his apartment. He had three coworkers that he tended to interact the most with, plus his sister and a cousin. Otherwise, he spent most of his time online in gaming communities or developing software.

"He's even more plugged in than you are," Eames teased Arthur. "You at least use notebooks on occasion."

Arthur ignored the dig even as Ariadne and Yusuf laughed. "Anyway... You have your pick on who to forge. It should be relatively straightforward, but I'd still like to go two layers down, just to be on the safe side."

"That's a bit much for a simple extraction," Eames disagreed. "Just go in, get out, have him chat up his sister or coworker about the design, then out we go."

"Going the extra layer in makes it more likely that he'll be cooperative. Initial reports have him blowing up even at the ones he trusts."

"If you want two layers, I can get it done," Yusuf said, shrugging.

"Are we going for a different approach in each layer, then?" Eames asked. He heaved a sigh, letting Arthur know what he thought about this idea. It was ignored, as he knew it would be, but he thought of this as a simple enough extraction. Arthur liked being thorough on the job, and leaving no room for error.

Arthur nodded. "That means you're learning twice the number of tells, but if you forge someone different each time, you'll have someone else to fall back on if the first one doesn't work."

It made sense, and Eames nodded. "Give me a few days to pick out my likely targets, and then we can figure out what the designs should be."

They reconvened a week later, and Eames had settled on the cousin and a coworker that Laurin liked. The four of them stayed late in the warehouse trying to figure out their plan of action and how to reach Laurin to even hook him up to the PASIV. Ariadne was there even though she didn't have much to contribute, and she fell asleep on Eames' shoulder during one of the conversations. He looked down at her and smiled a little, then looked up in time to intercept Yusuf's knowing glance. "What?" he asked irritably.

"You're smiling, you know that?"

"Of course I wasn't," he replied, ignoring Yusuf's inelegant snort and Arthur's incredulous stare. "I wasn't. What's wrong with you?"

"Your lips look like they're smiling," Yusuf pointed out, unable to keep the grin from his face. "Looks like a smile to me. Arthur, what do you think?"

"I think I'm glad you're finding something amusing, but this doesn't help us figure out how to get to Laurin," Arthur replied, trying to keep himself from smiling as well. He was trying to be a good team leader and keep everything on track. It was only too easy to get sidetracked since the four of them were friends.

"My mouth had a twitch," Eames told them severely, hoping he didn't sound like he was pouting. "Like a tic."

"Of course," Arthur said with a brisk nod. "Just like mine is twitching," he added, unable to stop the grin from splitting his own face.

"Wanker," Eames growled.

"It's late. We should probably get Ariadne home," Yusuf said. "Or you can just tuck her in beside you on that couch."

Eames glared at Yusuf and ignored the happy and contented feeling that the thought brought him. "Some friend you are."

"Oh, I'm a very good friend," Yusuf disagreed as he got up and stretched. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Arthur smiled at them both. "Take care of her, will you?" Arthur said softly, dropping a hand onto Ariadne's shoulder.

"Why? Jealous?" Eames snarked.

Arthur shrugged. "She's important, Eames. Not just because she's a great architect. You understand?"

Eames saw the genuine affection and concern in Arthur's expression. "Yeah. I understand." He gently shifted position so that his arm came down over Ariadne's shoulders. "I wouldn't hurt her for all the world, Arthur. Don't worry about that."

Arthur smiled fondly at them as he tucked Ariadne's hair behind her ear. "All right, then. I'll see you both tomorrow."

He turned out the lights and locked up the warehouse as he left. Eames allowed himself a wide grin in the dark. Ariadne felt just right tucked against his side as she slept, and he leaned into her as well. "Good night, love," he murmured. She snuffled softly in her sleep and snuggled closer to his warmth, leaving him even more pleased. Even if it never went farther than this, he was glad to have the moment.

***

Laurin liked his cousin and was positively gleeful about describing and showing off the development notes and the interface. His cousin was a computer geek as well, but Eames didn't have to pretend to know how to do anything. He just hemmed and hawed and oohed and ahed, and let Laurin do his thing. He was on a roll, expounding at length about his protocols and how he was able to get the code just right, letting Eames simply soak up the knowledge. This was Arthur's level, and Ariadne was the dreamer on the first level. Getting out of Arthur's level was simple enough once Laurin declared the gab session over and kicked Eames out of his workspace.

On Ariadne's level, on the other hand, Laurin's projections were looking angry. "What happened?" Arthur asked her, concerned. She was holed up in the middle of an office building, a gun in her hands. Spent cartridge casings were all around her.

"I didn't appreciate the projection of his boss pawing me. The man is obnoxious. The next thing I knew, the other projections realized I didn't belong here and started chasing me. I've been holing up here so they'd leave you guys alone."

"Laurin will be waking up soon, then," Eames replied, shaking his head. "The mazes you built might not keep him out long enough. He's damn good at them. Must be the spectrum stuff he's got."

Ariadne was about to ask what he meant when they heard a roaring sound behind them. It sounded like an explosion of some sort, and Ariadne went pale. "This wasn't supposed to be difficult. Will we be able to finish the job?"

Arthur patted her arm encouragingly. "I have faith in your mazes, Ariadne. The sedation will hold. He's under deep enough and long enough for us to get out of here, and we'll get the information out. Eames got it."

She visibly relaxed. "Oh, good. After all your old stories about angry employers not getting their information, I didn't want to be hunted down."

"As if we'd ever let that happen," Eames replied, affronted. "We have this. I got everything."

There was another explosion, closer to their location, and everything seemed to rock and shift. "It might be a problem up above," Arthur said with a frown. "It's not time for the kick yet, though..."

Ariadne yawned. "Is it just me, or is it just tiring right now?"

"Ariadne..." Arthur began in concern, reaching for her as she closed her eyes and swayed forward. "Yusuf must have upped her dose."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"Must be a problem with the line," Arthur guessed. He frowned and looked at her. "We left Laurin sedated to look for her. We'd have to go back if we're going to follow her down."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the same base compound Yusuf used for the Fischer job. So if she got another dose of it, then we can't wake her up by killing her." He nodded when Eames looked at him in horror. "She might going down levels."

"We can't leave her to go down into limbo," Eames hissed. "We owe her."

"I _know,"_ Arthur replied tightly. "Let me wake up, find out what the fuck happened. If we're not compromised, I want Yusuf to come in and help us find her. We need to find her fast and get out with the data."

Eames let out a breath. It made sense. Arthur liked to hang onto logic when things went all to hell on a job. Orderly, logical things meant that jobs went smoothly. It meant that he could bend it to his will and _make_ it work if he had to.

He cradled Ariadne to his chest as Arthur shot himself awake. "Hang in there, love," he murmured against her hair. She lay limp in his arms, eyes closed and her breathing too slow for his liking. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to leave her locked in her own mind. She had saved his life a few times over now, not to mention the fact that he might be the least bit infatuated. It might or might not have been mutual, but he would never know if he didn't find her.

It felt like hours before Arthur returned with Yusuf. "Mild complication, but it's taken care of now," Arthur said in crisp tones. "We have a backup watcher now. We have two hours real time to find her."

"We'll make it," Eames said confidently, lifting Ariadne's petite frame in his arms. "Let's get to that PASIV."

***

She wasn't anywhere on the second level map, and there was no actual third level. Which meant that Ariadne had fallen all the way to limbo, and Eames looked at Arthur with growing trepidation. "It's limbo, Arthur. People can spend years down there, _years_ and not wake up. If we can't find her..."

"We'll find her," Arthur said, though there was worry in his eyes. He wasn't entirely sure he could do this, but he was going to try. It was Ariadne, after all, and Arthur would never leave anyone behind if he could help it.

Yusuf held up the silver briefcase. "Let's do it," he said. "Time awaits."

***

They were in a hedge maze.

That took a moment to get used to, but it made sense after a bit. Ariadne had described Cobb's limbo, and it had been the decaying remnants of dreams with Mal. He had built things based off of memories and things that looked like memories. Ariadne had been cautioned never to repeat that mistake. It made sense that her limbo would be different, that she wouldn't make a limbo that looked like real life. Her limbo apparently would be nothing but mazes.

Let's get going, Eames wanted to say, but he was suddenly afraid as he looked around the hedge maze. This wasn't an ordinary maze. He could see the vines slithering through the hedges, sinuously moving between the branches and leaves, darkness behind the vines. "Traps," he said suddenly, eyes widening. He remembered a movie he had seen with Ariadne that had a maze with vines and shifting branches, and his eyes immediately dropped to the ground. "Yusuf. Arthur. She built mazes and _traps."_

They looked at him in growing horror, suddenly seeing the darkness behind the hedge for what it was. She had forgotten. Somehow, she had been in limbo long enough to forget what had happened, to forget that she was in limbo. They would have to find her, tracking her down through her mazes and traps, then convince her she was dreaming.

They had less than two hours real time to do it in. Eames knew maths wasn't his strong suit, but it was easy to do it if he had incentive enough. Yusuf's cocktail had a slightly longer than average time dilation per level. This gave them over eight thousand hours in limbo, which became over 300 days.

Limbo was only as big as a person's imagination, but Ariadne was very creative. Even if they had the eleven months to work with, they might not find Ariadne at all, and they would all be lost in her mazes.

"Wait. We have to make a deal. If we can't get her out of here in time," Arthur began slowly, "we'll have to keep her sedated on somnacin and bring her with us to try again," he said earnestly. "We won't just leave her trapped in her own mind."

He didn't think they could do it, Eames realized. And Yusuf was nodding, which meant that he didn't believe they could do it, either. Ariadne had gone to limbo before, so she should know how it worked on some level of consciousness. And she knew them, so she had to know they would come after her. Eames refused to think that she would be lost for good.

"We'll get her, Arthur," Eames said, his voice harder than he intended. "We're going to get her back, and then we'll get the hell out of Laurin's mind and get the job done."

With a sharp nod, Arthur led the way through the hedge maze.

***

It was easy enough to get past the snaking vines along the ground and the hedges, though the three men were all worse for wear. No point in counting hours wasted on the maze, as they had months to spare. Still, impatience burned along his nerves. Perhaps this was what pain felt like. He didn't know what else it might feel like, having never felt pain before. Eames didn't even feel it in dreams. There were welts across his skin from the sliding, snaking vines. He had only felt the pressure, but not the stinging pain from the barbs or venomous flowers caught within the hedges.

Beyond the hedge maze, a soft snow was falling. The flakes were thick and fluffy, and their breath left in puffs. The three of them quickly dreamed of coats and gloves, scarves and hats. Eames felt the cold of the snow, the sharp sting of lack of temperature. That was possibly the closest he came to pain, and he knew it wasn't the same.

Arthur had his dark green trench coat, black scarf and a furred hunting cap. He looked comfortable, as if cold never bothered him. Eames wondered if anything bothered him. Yusuf definitely was uncomfortable in the snow; his coat was too thick and difficult to maneuver in, and he was wrapped up too tightly.

None of the snow stuck to the ground, and it seemed to be falling thicker in places. Eames looked around with a critical eye when Yusuf started cursing under his breath. "What?" he asked, not sure why Yusuf was upset.

"Look at the snow. What does this look like to you?"

"It's a maze," Arthur said, looking around with wide eyes. "I didn't think... I should have realized this sooner."

"So we need to keep going," Yusuf said. "There will be a trap somewhere, won't there? Like the hedges?"

"If there is, I don't know where it would be," Eames said, looking around the snowy field. "It just looks like snow."

"Ariadne's brilliant, Eames," Arthur reminded him, a soft sigh in his words. "She can hide anything in plain sight."

There was a melancholy air in the snowy landscape, the sensation of missing and lost things, of pain and misery just beneath the surface. It was a maze, with no sense of where the exit would be. Eames squinted, but the snow was just thick enough to make it difficult to see though past a few feet. "There's got to be a point to this maze. There's something we're missing here."

"I think I know where we are," Yusuf sighed, looking around at the snow. "If I'm right, then I know how to get us through this maze."

"Lead on, then," Arthur said, gesturing for Yusuf to start walking.

It was too cold in the snowy landscape to linger, so Yusuf began at a brisk walk. "There was a job she told me about, one where you had referred her, Eames," he began slowly. "The subject reminded her of her father, and there was a snowy field she had to create for the level. It wasn't a maze, nothing like that. She rather regretted that particular job, actually. She told me afterward she second guessed staying in this line of work as a result of that."

Arthur looked at Yusuf. "She never told me that. When she called me after the Fischer job, she said she had no reservations about staying."

Eames remembered the job that he had referred Ariadne for. It had been a month after the Fischer job, and she had completed her degree. She had been casting about for something to do, and he had recommended her for a simple extraction. She had called him afterward, sounding shaky and uncertain. Eames had assured her that she didn't ever have to feel pressured into taking every job that came her way. If she ever had a bad feeling about something, it was better to bow out gracefully early on to keep herself safe. Ariadne had thanked him for the advice, saying she would consider the words. Four months after that, she and Arthur were working together, and Eames was sometimes looped in. It was almost as if none of them truly wanted to be separate or work with a different team. Eames knew that he had compared other work experiences to that one. And after his time in the hospital recently, he understood why. Other teams _didn't_ have a sense of closeness about them. They were coworkers and that was that. There was no sense of friendship, no attempt to figure out anything about each other. It was simply work, and there was a higher than average risk of getting hurt with other teams Eames had worked with. As difficult as the Fischer job had been, and disregarding Cobb's poor behavior, he had felt safe and never once thought he would be double crossed.

He knew for a fact that Ariadne would want the same thing.

"We're a team, you said," Eames told Arthur, watching his breath crystallize in short puffs. "It's safe. Nothing happens to make us think our secrets would be used against us."

Arthur's eyes were difficult to read, but Eames knew he had struck a nerve with that statement. "Even before we all worked together, that was always true for me."

"Yeah. It's why I keep working with you, even if you're an awful stick in the mud."

Eames laughed at Arthur's glower, and Yusuf chuckled. "There. I think that's where we need to go." Yusuf said, pointing out a cottage up ahead. He hurried forward, a look of relief on his face. "We can finally be out of the cold."

"Wait... Not so fast!" Arthur called out.

Yusuf slid beneath the surface of the ground, as if it swallowed him up. Eames and Arthur both cried out, rushing forward. Eames began digging at the ground, trying to find the hole where Yusuf had disappeared. He kept calling out his name, not feeling anything but the cold, even if looked like the leather gloves on his hands were shredding against the ground. Arthur was pulling at his arms, trying to get him to stop, shouting at him. Eames ignored it, kept trying to dig. In his panic, he couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

Arthur pushed a shovel into Eames' hands. "You're going to break your fingers if you keep doing that. You're bleeding everywhere!"

Blinking in surprise, Eames got to his feet and stared at his ruined hands. "Oh. I didn't feel it."

"That's why I told you to stop, stupid," Arthur snapped. "Heal that, and let's start digging."

Neither man could break ground on the frozen soil, and the shovels snapped after a few tries. Eames tried to imagine a jackhammer, but that broke as well. Arthur tried to simply dream a hole in the ground, but for all his effort, nothing happened.

It sounded as if there was a gunshot beneath their feet. Eames looked up at Arthur in dismay. "Arthur..."

"He'll shoot his way up to consciousness." Arthur looked a little disturbed, but he looked at Eames in determination. "We have to find Ariadne."

Eames nodded and looked around the snowy landscape. "Then I guess we'd better get moving."

They didn't get too far before Eames realized that they weren't going to get to the cottage. And that the shadows behind the snow were moving.

"We need to go," Eames said, not liking how the darkness was moving. It was alive somehow. He didn't know how he knew that, but it was a creeping feeling along his spine, a knowledge that wouldn't leave the primitive part of his brain.

Arthur picked up on it, and nodded. They took off running, avoiding the cottage. Its comforting glowing windows mocked them, but Eames was starting to think that was the point. It was the carrot at the end of the stick, but there was nothing on the way to the carrot but a trap and the waiting darkness.

A roar erupted from the darkness as they passed out of the snow and into an empty field. As they walked, they were able to shed the winter gear. The temperature gradually rose as they approached a sweltering jungle. "This can't be good." Arthur looked at Eames in concern. "We'll have to be careful. Too much can go wrong in a jungle."

"Let's get to it."

They moved cautiously, guns of choice out with their fingers on the trigger in case monsters came out of the shadows. Both men moved with practiced ease; if Eames thought about it, he would have expected Yusuf to be the first one down. He didn't have any practical work with weapons or evasion tactics. He could handle himself when attacked, sure, but it wasn't second nature to him. Both Arthur and himself had backgrounds with weapons training, so they would be more likely to survive these traps.

Eames startled at the sight of a skeleton floating past in the murky water of the river they were now walking along. The jungle was starting to turn into a muddy swamp. "Be careful." There was something about the skeleton that didn't sit right with him.

"There are too many skeletons here," Arthur commented. "And even without ligaments, they're all still holding together."

"Okay, Arthur. I know you are exceptionally good at anatomy, but I really didn't need to know that these are not proper skeletons. They're bloody creepy enough as it is."

"No... I think _they're_ the trap. Don't touch them, don't go near them. Maybe it's a proximity thing. As long as we don't get too close, we won't trigger the trap. We'll get through this spot and come out safely on the other side."

"Good theory," Eames agreed.

They were careful to avoid the river and the floating skeletons. The river wound its way through the jungle, and their clothes stuck to their skin uncomfortably. Neither spoke for a long time. There wasn't much to say, anyway.

There were more skeletons as they progressed along the river, and their skulls seemed to track their movements. "I don't think this is going to end well," Arthur said without preamble. "Those skeletons are part of it, I haven't figured out how yet."

"Where are they flowing?" Eames asked after a moment, watching the water move even more swiftly as he watched. There had to be meaning to this, something involving the skeletons.

Arthur pointed ahead. "There. Somehow, I don't think guns are going to be enough."

Eames looked in the direction Arthur indicated. Standing there was a bone golem, glowering hollows for eyes. "Wow. We've been watching way too many horror movies late at night in the warehouse."

"Somehow, I should have realized this was all your fault."

"Shut it, Arthur. Fire and grenades ought to do the trick."

The incendiary grenades were enough to melt the bones and blast holes in the golem, making it roar loud enough to shake the landscape. "We made it mad, but I don't think we've done too much else to it," Arthur observed, trying to reload the grenade launcher.

Eames sighed. The golem's chest had the same kind of darkness in it that had been in the hedge maze and the snow. "We might not be able to destroy it, then. You see that darkness?" He waited for Arthur's nod. "We may not be able to defeat that."

"So what do you suggest?" Arthur asked, looking over at the golem in concern. The skeletons floating down the river were climbing up the golem's legs and pressing their bones into it. The holes in the golem were filling, and it seemed to be growing in size.

"Run!"

They ran, leaping over the skeletons in the river as if they were logs. The skeletons reached for them as they leaped, but they moved quickly. Once they were on the other side of the riverbank, the two men ran, dodging vines and larger than normal dragonflies. The bone golem roared behind them, angry that its prey was getting away. They crossed out of the jungle and found themselves in a city that was crumbling around its edges. The buildings were old, faded graffiti covering their walls. The glass in the windows were mostly broken, and it resembled a nuclear wasteland. "This doesn't look any better than the other mazes, to be honest," Arthur sighed.

Eames looked around. "Well, damn. Up there," he said, pointing.

Arthur followed his gaze and saw that this was actually a maze of buildings and fire escapes, with bridges between buildings. His lips stretched wide into an appreciative smile. "She's amazing, isn't she?"

"Yeah. She is. Funny how sometimes you can't see what's right in front of you, isn't it?" Eames asked, voice soft.

"We'll find her, Eames." Arthur's voice was soft, more gentle than the forger had ever heard it when directed at him. Of course, usually he was needling Arthur, trying to get under the point man's skin and ruffle that implacable facade. "You'll be able to tell her yourself."

"What if she doesn't want to hear it?" Eames asked, not quite ready to be flippant about this topic. It was odd, having a moment like this with Arthur. They had always been merely colleagues before, not quite friends. Eames was starting to realize that it was mostly his fault, however. He always regarded others with suspicion, holding himself apart. Perhaps Arthur would've been friends if he allowed it, if he didn't constantly try to push him away to keep himself safe. He had never stopped to think that Arthur had never taken advantage of the fact that he knew about the congenital analgesia. He had never risen to Eames' bait, and had always been properly behaved while on a job.

"She'll hear it," Arthur told him, voice even, face impassive. Whatever his own feelings were, he wouldn't stand in Eames' way.

That told Eames more about the kind of friend Arthur would be than all their years working together. He wondered why he hadn't seen it before.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. She's still out there somewhere."

It felt like they had been searching for days already. There was time, but Eames was feeling impatient. He nodded. "Let's go."

They climbed a fire escape and began walking across the rooftops. The skies were gray, as if the clouds were made of ash, and there was the sound of metal scraping on metal in the distance. "Something's coming," Eames told Arthur unnecessarily.

The ground below them seemed to undulate, as if the concrete was covered with something ashen but alive. Arthur looked up from where he had looked over the rooftop's edge. "We can't go down. We must have triggered another trap somewhere."

"Proximity, perhaps," Eames guessed. "Nothing obvious happened before this point."

Arthur looked over at Eames. "So how obvious do you plan on being?"

Eames grinned at him suddenly. "Well, obvious _is_ my usual style. Shall we?"

A rocket launcher appeared in Eames' hands, and Arthur shook his head. "If we must."

They kept going across the rooftops, the ground below them starting to noticeably shift and move beneath the buildings. They were soft, gentle waves at first, then increasing in amplitude the farther they got into the blasted cityscape. The sky was the same lost gray color, and the scrape of metal on metal grew louder. It seemed all around them, and Eames wondered what the maze's monster would be.

Arthur suddenly stopped short and Eames nearly crashed into him. He staggered back, nearly falling off of the rooftop, and Arthur grabbed hold of him tightly to keep him from falling. They were in the center of the maze, and the source of the metallic sound was in front of them. The building ahead of them seemed alive, darkness behind the broken windows that were its eyes. The double doors that were its main entrance was a yawning, gaping mouth, jagged metal door frame looking like broken teeth. The building let out another metallic roar, and Arthur looked at Eames. "We're battling a building."

"Seems oddly appropriate," Eames snarked. He grinned when Arthur rolled his eyes at him.

The rocket launcher didn't seem to perturb the building at all. It simply roared again, swallowing the flames within its gaping maw. A second rocket didn't bother it either.

"It probably needs specific charges," Arthur said, looking at Eames in concern.

"You and your specificity," Eames drawled.

"Eames..." Arthur sighed and looked at the building growling at them. "I can possibly detonate specific charges inside the building."

Eames stared at Arthur. "That would kick you up a level."

"Oh, I'm sure I can dream up a long enough timer." Arthur shrugged at Eames' stare of incredulity. "You'll need a good enough distraction to find Ariadne, won't you? I'm sure I can do something about that."

He grasped Arthur's shoulder tightly. "Thanks, mate."

Arthur gave him a solemn smile. "Find her and wake her up."

Eames took off running from the darkness as Arthur descended with a brand new backpack full of charges on his back. He didn't look back as the sound of metal and stone scraping grew louder behind him. Arthur was quiet as usual, and Eames could almost feel the darkness descending on the blasted cityscape. Even if Arthur could build a long enough delay in his dream explosives, the darkness would get him.

An explosion rocked the city behind him, and Eames went flying across the rooftops. He fetched up against something soft, and he tumbled down an incline. When he finally came to a stop, Eames opened his eyes and looked up to see what had happened.

The cityscape was gone. He was in a forest, lying at the bottom of a ravine. The blasted city had been swallowed up by the dark.

Well, damn. Now he was alone in limbo, the last one to try to find Ariadne.

He dreamed up a fast racehorse and they took off at a gallop along the path in the woods. He ignored the twisting routes branching off from the main path; nothing good ever happened to people foolish enough to stray from the path. He knew he was getting to the heart of the forest as they moved forward, and there was something tugging at his chest. It was a feeling he couldn't explain, as if he knew exactly where he was going, as if everything in his life had inexorably moved him toward this very moment.

The forest abruptly fell away, and Eames found himself in the middle of a sunny clearing. There was Ariadne in the center of the clearing, crafting things out of sticks and stones and dirt. She was wearing a faded burgundy dress, a floral yellow scarf around her throat. Her hair tumbled messily down her shoulders, and her golden eyes stared at the structure taking shape in front of her. He recognized the cottage from the snowy field, hedges and crumbling buildings. She was making mazes, pushing them aside to make another as soon as she was finished. It was changing the landscape around her, the models becoming real as soon as she set them down and declared them done.

Eames found himself striding forward purposefully. "Ariadne," he called out.

She didn't look up, didn't seem to acknowledge him. She was startled when he grasped her shoulders and pulled her up to her feet. "Wh-who are you?" she asked, looking almost frightened.

"Don't you remember me, love?" he asked, his voice soft and pained.

"Should I?" she asked, eyes wide as they looked at him. "I... I'm alone here. I've always been alone here."

"Why are you alone, love?" Eames asked, hands gentling at her arms. "Where did everyone go?"

"I... I don't know. I'm the only one here," Ariadne whispered, looking at him in growing distress. "I make mazes. I've always made mazes."

Eames found himself cupping her cheek tenderly. "And you're bloody brilliant at it. I know you are." He smiled at her, eyes twinkling. "I've come looking for you."

"Why?"

"I couldn't leave you down here alone." He closed a hand over hers and held it tightly. "I care for you, Ariadne. Likely more than I should, but I simply can't help it." The other hand at her cheek felt comfortable, as if he should have done it a thousand times before in the real world. He traced the curve of her cheek with his thumb. "I can't imagine life without you."

Eyes large with surprise, Ariadne closed a hand over his at her cheek. "But I don't remember," she said mournfully.

"Then I suppose I'll have to start over from the beginning, yeah?" She gave him a wilted smile in response to his bright one. "I'm Eames. I met you first almost a year ago. We were working together."

"We were?"

Eames' eyes were alight with amusement. "You were making mazes then, too."

Ariadne laughed. "But I don't even remember why. I only know that I have to. I have to make mazes. I have to make traps. I have to make monsters. I know it's important that I make them, but I don't know why."

"You're an architect, Ariadne. A damn good one, at that. I'm not always a real person," he began slowly, painfully, "but you've always been so genuine, so full of affection. You came after me a few weeks ago when I wasn't where I was supposed to be. You cared, love. You cared enough to find me, to save my life." He smiled at her amazement. "You always do such remarkable things as if they're commonplace, and you make me want to be a better man. You make me wish I was a respectable sort, that I could be someone you'd take home and show off to your friends."

She reached up and cupped his cheek gently. "You look so sad, Eames."

"You mean a lot to me, and I never got the chance to tell you before. But then, I wasn't sure you wanted to hear it."

"Why not? I like you."

Eames grinned at her innocent statement. "Like me, or _like me?"_

She laughed, a delighted and bubbly sound. "Oh, Eames. Do you ever take anything seriously?"

That sounded like the Ariadne he had known before she had fallen into limbo. He couldn't help but lean forward and kiss her, sweeping his tongue across her lips. She made a startled yet aroused sound, leaning into his touch. "Oh," she murmured, clinging to his chest. "You never kissed me before."

"I think I got it wrong," Eames said, an amused twinkle in his eye. "Perhaps I should do it again, be sure I did it right."

"There's a proper way to kiss?" she asked, grinning at him.

"There's a proper way for everything to be done. Care to find out?"

Ariadne laughed, that full throated laughter she had when genuinely happy and amused. It sent his heart fluttering in his chest, especially when it seemed as though there was recognition in her eyes. "Oh, Eames. Why didn't you ever tell me before?"

He traced her lower lip with the edge of his thumb. "What if you turned me away? What if you didn't want to hear it?"

"So now that I've fallen all the way to limbo you've grown a pair to tell me?"

Eames sighed at her inelegant snort. "I don't want a world without you in it, Ariadne. This made me realize that."

"So how are we going to wake up?"

"An explosion would wake us both at once, and we can find the others a level up." Eames linked his fingers with hers. "Ready?"

She tightened her grip around his hand. "Whenever you are."

He kissed her as the explosion ripped through them. They woke on the second level, since there wasn't any third level. Eames was where he had left his body, and he looked around himself in a panic. Arthur and Yusuf were there, and they turned to look at him with concern at his pained groan. Arthur's expression was grave. "Did you find her?"

"Yes, but she's not here..."

"There!"

Arthur and Eames turned to see Yusuf pointing out of the window. Ariadne was coming forward, dressed as she had been for the first level. She had a grin on her face and her bishop in her hand. Her eyes slid over Yusuf and Arthur, and she brightened when she saw Eames. "You came for me."

"We all tried," he told her modestly. "We refused to give up on you."

Ariadne pulled the three of them into a tight hug and pressed a kiss onto Eames' cheek. "Let's all go get paid, shall we?"

"That's my girl," Eames murmured in her ear. He returned her hug a little tighter than was strictly necessary, and then let go of her reluctantly. "See you topside."

Her laughter followed him up to the first level, where they all woke up around Laurin. From here, they would have to wait until the kick came, another hour in real time. They had time to get away from Laurin and hole up until the kick in one of the many hiding spots Ariadne had built. Eames grasped hold of Ariadne's waist. "We can hide together, yeah?"

Arthur was packing up the dream PASIV and Yusuf was giving Laurin a last dose of sedative in this layer. "We have eight hours here?" Ariadne asked, looking up at him through her lashes.

"Just about," Eames confirmed, a slow grin sliding across his face.

"We should split up," Arthur said, looking up. He didn't quite smirk at the sight of Ariadne and Eames, but he nodded at them with a slight quirk of his lips. "Yusuf and I will hide out on the north side, then. We'll see you after the kick."

Yusuf didn't hide his chuckle at all. He grinned at Eames and shot him a thumbs up sign before he followed Arthur out of the building. Ariadne buried her face in Eames' chest. "Is this going to be awkward?" she asked, looking up at Eames with a shy smile.

"They're happy for us," he said, holding his arm out in a gallant gesture. "Shall we?"

"Eight hours."

"I plan to make the most of it," Eames told her in playfully grave tones.

Her smile was blinding bright as they left Laurin behind. "Good."

The sun was shining in the first level. It seemed like the perfect way to start something new.

The End.


End file.
